EverTrade vs Big Box Recycling

Why Retail Recycling Programs Fall Short for Business

Best Buy, Staples, and other big box retailers offer consumer recycling programs — and they're fine for dropping off an old laptop or phone. But when your business needs to dispose of 50 workstations, a rack of servers, or equipment containing sensitive customer data, retail recycling programs simply weren't designed for the job.

The Data Security Problem

Big box recycling programs offer no data destruction certificates, no chain of custody documentation, and no compliance guarantees. Your business's hard drives — containing customer records, financial data, employee information, and trade secrets — are dropped into a bin with consumer electronics and shipped to third-party processors. You have no visibility into what happens to your data. For regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and government, this is a compliance violation.

Volume and Equipment Limitations

Retail programs limit you to 3 items per household per day. They don't accept enterprise equipment like rack servers, SAN storage, UPS systems, or industrial networking gear. And they certainly don't send a truck to your office. If you're decommissioning a server room or refreshing 200 workstations, retail recycling is not an option.

No Value Recovery

When you drop off working equipment at a big box store, they profit from refurbishing and reselling it — you get nothing. EverTrade assesses your equipment's residual value and pays you for working servers, switches, laptops, and other valuable IT assets. Why give away value when you can recover it?

The Verdict: Big Box Is for Consumers, EverTrade Is for Business

If you're a consumer dropping off an old laptop, Best Buy works fine. But if you're a business that needs data security, compliance documentation, value recovery, and the convenience of free on-site pickup — EverTrade is the clear choice. We were built specifically for business electronics recycling and ITAD, and it shows in every aspect of our service.